Sales Self-Sabotage: The Cause and the Cure
by Jeff Thull
No sales professional in their right mind would sabotage their own sales intentionally. Nevertheless, self-sabotage - the act of undermining one's own credibility and alienating the very customers and prospects we count on for our livelihoods - occurs with dismaying frequency. In this article, I'll focus on how to solve two sources of self-sabotage that cause salespeople to shoot themselves in the foot: "dangling insults," and the "old brain."

Selling to Executives: Getting in and Earning the Keys to the Elevator
by Jeff Thull
In selling to executives, it is about establishing relevancy, credibility, and trust…all of which lead to access to people and information within the organization…what I refer to as “earning the keys to the elevator.” So how do you connect and get the keys to the elevator?

How to Make a Good First Impression by Finding the Hidden Message in Your Prospect's Handshake
by Gregory Stebbins
More than just physical contact, a handshake conveys a wealth of psychological information. Most people don't spend time probing the depths of this unconscious communication. They just have a "feeling," or a sense that their "intuition" is telling them something. However, there are things we can use as sales professionals by looking a little more closely at the experience.

Passing the "Tell Me More" Test
by Jill Konrath
What do prospective clients really mean when they ask you to tell them more? If you think they're looking for information about your product, service, solution or company – you're dead wrong! In this article you'll discover how to respond in a manner that advances the sales process and positions you as a trusted advisor.

Diagnostic Marketing® "It's not about us - It's about the customer!"
by Jeff Thull
Business-to-business customers care about their strategies and how to execute them and their problems and how to solve them. This is why problem-oriented differentiation, or Diagnostic Marketing, is the most effective way to bring complex solutions to market.

Building Client Relationships: How to Use Sales Psychology to Create More Lifetime Clients Now
by Gregory Stebbins
When the customer perceives you as the expert who really understands what he or she needs and when you give it to them in the way they recognize as serving their needs, you automatically turn an adversary into an ally. This will turn your customers into lifetime customers.

Ten Timely Tips For Mastering The Complex Sale
by Jeff Thull
Timely and timeless tips from Jeff Thull, the author of Mastering the Complex Sale, The Prime Solution, and Exceptional Selling: How the Best Connect and Win in High Stakes Sales.

How to Use Sales Psychology to Create Longer, Lasting Sales-Winning Relationships
by Gregory Stebbins
Archeologists can dig up ancient cities and create a pretty accurate description of the inhabitants' lifestyle just from the arrangement of the ruins and pottery fragments. As sales professionals we must do the same thing with the artifacts surrounding our customers, so we can communicate better and develop longer lasting relationships with them.

Extreme Qualifying: Two Steps to High Performance Qualification
by Jeff Thull
Extreme qualifying is qualifying according to the internal profile of the customer, recognizing the reality of symptoms that represent real risk.

Five Steps to Turn Audiences Into Clients
by C.J. Hayden
Public speaking can be one of the most powerful methods available for an independent professional, consultant, or coach to land new clients. But it doesn't always work out that way. Before you book your next speaking engagement, ask yourself these five questions to make sure you're on the right track to turn your audience into clients.

Winning Strategies to Succeed in Complex Sales
by Jeff Thull
You have made it to the high stakes world of the complex sale, and you are going to have to ratchet up your skills and disciplines if you are going to compete and succeed.

The End of Solution-Based Selling
by Jeff Thull
Shifting to a new paradigm will not only help you live to see tomorrow, but it will foster in you the agility and plain old street smarts to take your business in completely new, highly profitable directions.

The Three Sales Leadership Challenges that Prevent Sales Force Success
by Jeff Thull
Sales leaders who can meet these challenges will replace frustration with confidence and direction for the individuals on their team and themselves.

Optimizing B2B Marketing and Sales Processes Helps CEOs Drive More Profitable Growth
by Sergio Balegno
Successfully transforming a culture of disparate marketing and sales activities into a cohesive marketing-sales process starts at the top.

How to Prevent 11th Hour Negotiations
by Jeff Thull
Negotiation takes on a new definition in the diagnostic process, which centers on clear and precise communication and collaboration - a continual series of "mutual agreements and understanding."

Direct Mail Strategies: How to Get a 50% D.M. Response Rate With a Stroke of the Pen
by Michael Kaselnak
A few businesses have begun to see huge success with a 2,000 year old tool that has none of the sexiness of a celebrity endorsement or the award winning graphics of a Madison Avenue Advertising firm.

Marketing Is Not A Cost - A CEO Who Doesn't Understand Marketing Is!
by Michelangelo Celli
Most CEOs of privately held Business-To-Business organizations have not taken the time to measure what their customers are worth to them over their lifetime, and so they have no way to build a rationale for what they are willing to spend to win more customers.

You'll Gain More Credibility Through the Questions You Ask . . . Than the Stories You Tell
by Jeff Thull
The goal is to let your questions help you establish exceptional credibility and become a problem solver for your customers.

The True Four P’s of B2B Marketing for CEOs
by Michelangelo Celli
The 4 P’s model was developed for business-to-consumer challenges, and not business-to-business challenges. This is why I cringe when I see it up in front of seminar audiences of top management from B2B companies.

Increase Your Bottom Line With Sales Training That Sticks
by Chuck Mache
Before spending your money on sales training, make sure the sales force is prepared to train and that the dots are connected through the five steps of the Breakthrough Model.

Quality Marketing Metrics Enable Marketing's Opportunity to Impact Strategic Direction
by Laura Patterson
While most marketers are measuring something, survey results indicate there is room for improvement regarding metrics and the quality of these metrics.

Get Clients NOW! 2006
by C.J. Hayden
Make a better living doing what you love with expert advice from C.J.Hayden! (ed.)

Dropping the Ball
by Michelangelo Celli
When it comes to marketing, most CEOs at B2B companies make lousy catchers, and even worse pitchers.

Being Unique is a Good Thing ... Isn't It?
by C.J. Hayden
Don't let your business be a victim of "terminal uniqueness" -- the belief that you are so different from anyone else that none of the rules apply to you.

Measuring Marketing Performance: Making the Shift to Outcome-Based Metrics
by Laura Patterson
You can focus marketing metrics on business outcomes and develop quality metrics that will provide insight into your marketing effectiveness and demonstrate that contribution to senior management.

Beyond the Elevator Pitch: A High Credibility Conversation
by Jeff Thull
Within the first 20 seconds you must simultaneously establish relevancy and credibility - or you will be dismissed as just more marketing noise in the relentless barrage of sellers looking for attention.

Consultancy-led Account Development: The Missed Opportunity
by Sandy Arpino
There is a better way of gaining new business: optimised Account Development led by senior consultants.

The Presentation Trap: Why Making Presentations Can Cost You the Sale
by Jeff Thull
I am often surprised that even the most sophisticated professionals get caught in the presentation trap. They spend an inordinate amount of time preparing for a razzle-dazzle presentation and often lose sight of the issues at hand.

How Small Flash Drives Offer Big Marketing Opportunities
by Jim McKinley
As the popularity and capabilities of USB flash drives continue to grow, marketing professionals will continue to find unique and innovative ways to utilize flash drive marketing. The marketing possibilities may only be limited by the imagination.

Targeting Your B2B Lead Generation Efforts
by M.H. McIntosh
When searching for prospects to buy your products or services, you want to find those companies who have a problem for which you have the solution. Here are ways to target your market.

Establishing Customer Relevance Drives Sales, Spells Relief
by Michelangelo Celli
Marketing has evolved. But most corporate marketing approaches have not. Here is a quick way to understand the product, market and customer relationship and the importance of relevance to getting the outcome you desire.

Sales Secrets for Entrepreneurs
by Chet Holmes
Educational - based marketing casts a wider net, attracts more buyers at every turn and closes a higher percent of prospects if and only if the "education" you provide is of true value.

Seven Common Sales Challenges that Prevent Executive Level Access
by Jeff Thull
Gaining access and connecting to executive decision makers is one challenge that most sales professionals face, and access to the Executive Suite can mean the difference between success and mediocre results.

The Role of Culture in the Marketing Accountability Journey
by Laura Patterson and Frank Robinson
This article discusses what is meant by a culture of accountability and the linkages between culture, leadership and performance.

Sixteen Proven Techniques for Better B2B Sales Leads Generation with Print Advertising
by M. H. "Mac" McIntosh
Generate more qualified B2B sales leads for your salespeople, representatives, distributors or resellers with effective print advertising.

Three Marketing Mistakes Every Business Manager Makes
by Terri Langhans
Here are a few important marketing mistakes along with a recommended fix that will help you attract more business and get better results from your marketing, regardless of how big or small your marketing budget is.

The Three Traps of Selling Conventionally in a Complex Environment
by Jeff Thull
When you follow the conventional sales process in a complex sale, you run head first into a series of traps that grow progressively more difficult to avoid and that make a positive outcome for the sale ever less likely.

How to Run Happy Sales Meetings
by Alexander Kjerulf
If you find yourself dreading sales meetings or find yourself uncomfortable in a traditional salesman role, give this method a shot. Not only will you enjoy meeting customers this way - you’ll also sell more.

How Many People Should You Bring with You to Your Next Marketing Pitch?
by Sara Holtz
Have you wondered how many people you should bring with you to an upcoming marketing meeting? Recently, three different clients faced this question as they followed up with a potential client.

The Decision to Buy
by Jeff Thull
How do you guide your customers through a high quality decision process that will help them understand the value of your solution and be willing to invest in it?

What if No One Signs Up?
by C.J. Hayden
It's the nightmare of every professional who offers group programs. You design a powerful workshop, schedule a date, broadcast your marketing message… and no one registers. Then what?

Selling to Executives - Who's Getting Their Attention, You or Your Competitor?
by Jeff Thull
The bottom line is, ill-prepared salespeople will continually be pushed back down to support levels if they don't keep in mind the five key steps to engage the executive and increase the value they can bring to them.

Marketing Metrics that Really Matter
by Bray J. Brockbank
In today's world of shrinking marketing budgets, it's essential to link marketing metrics to marketing and business strategies. Marketing must make metrics matter more ... today.

Fast Forward Selling - The Marketing Review
by Lois Creamer
There never has been a better time to be reminded of the basics needed in order to thrive - not merely survive.

Making Time for Marketing
by C.J. Hayden
There are many ways to include marketing activities in your busy life. So instead of wishing you had more time for marketing, why not make marketing a part of the time you are already spending?

How To Gain Monopoly-Like Profits Through Ethnic Marketing
by Michael Bolden
Tapping into and creating ethnic space monopolies is at the heart of this article and should be the goal of every ethnic marketing plan.

Have You Created an Impossible Business?
by C.J. Hayden
Unless you do the math to prove or disprove your assumptions, you may be creating a business that can never succeed.

Corporate Gobbledygook
by Steve Kayser
Corporate Gobbledygook - The Four Too's vs. The Four Tools.

Your Business Goals: Beacon or Fog Bank?
by Laura Patterson
With well-defined business outcomes we can establish meaningful strategic metrics and specific and measurable objectives. These are the key elements for managing and improving marketing performance.

Fast Forward Selling in Challenging Times
by Lois Creamer
The secret of success! The "P" word. It's a word we all hear constantly, however, are you practicing great positioning?

No More Root Canals
by Michael W. McLaughlin
Clients will turn their backs on "root canal" consultants, and go with the firms that deliver results and a great personal experience.

The Lean, Mean Profit Machine
by Susan Friedmann
Let’s take a look at five strategies to exercise your marketing muscle, how they relate to your trade show participation, and how all are vital to your company’s physical fitness.

Value Creation - the New Core Competency for Growth-Minded Companies
by Jeff Thull
How can you build a culture in which value creation becomes the mantra and your customers see you as an incomparable source of value? Here are some guidelines to start transforming your organization.

Dragons, Quests and Marketing Plans
by Laura Patterson
A good marketing plan has all the elements of a well-told story. A good story grabs our attention, captures our imagination, draws us to the characters and to the situation at hand. A marketing plan should do the same.

A Marketing Toolkit for Every CEO
by Laura Patterson
The CEO of a small or medium size business is often responsible for closing key deals and serving as the primary marketer. Sound familiar? Then build this simple CEO marketing toolkit, designed to save you valuable time and money.

Four Ways to Stop Margin Erosion at the Point of Sale
by Jeff Thull
How can you ensure that your salespeople won't cave in on price and compromise margins and profitability? What can you do to prevent margin erosion at the point of sale? Here are four key tips.

Organizing for the Hunt
by Joe Grant
Should you have a full-time new business director, use a "Spark and Torch" process, or perhaps create a special new business team? And if you're an agency principal, what's your role in all this?

The Strategic and Conceptual Approach to Effective Contact Relationship Management
by Osman Baig
Learn to deal with people and not revenue sources. Develop, build, maintain, solidify and grow relationships!

Making Your Way Along the Marketing Metrics Continuum
by Laura Patterson
By understanding where you are along the metrics continuum, you'll be able to take control over what is measured and how it is reported.

New Business: No Magic Bullets
by Joe Grant
You'll dramatically improve your chances for success - and make your agency healthier and your life easier in the long run - by ruthlessly qualifying each prospect at the earliest possible stage of the romance.

Is Your Purchasing Department Stripping Value as They Reduce Costs?
by Jeff Thull
What can companies do to ensure that purchasing is not undermining other departments by diluting value and ultimately bringing down profits?

The Five Cardinal Sins of Client Relationships
by Joe Grant
We'd like to share five major factors we see for agency account turnover which if avoided will separate your firm from the also-rans, so you will experience continuous and predictable growth instead of sudden account losses.

Marketing Metrics - What's the Big Deal?
by Laura Patterson
Measurement can provide timely feedback, enable corrective action, provide focus, and the ability to design, map and monitor processes, and adopt best practices. You must be able to discern which marketing efforts make a difference.

When to Walk Away from a Sale: Nine Pivotal Questions
by Michael W. McLaughlin
Finding the answers to nine questions will help you decide whether the opportunity has the potential for profit - or peril.

Building Brand Awareness Through Tradeshows
by Susan Friedmann
There needs to be total consistency, congruity, clarity and focus in every aspect of your exhibiting program, before, during and after the show.

How Executives are Closing the Gaps Between Value Creation and Value Delivery
by Jeff Thull
The high stakes business-to-business sector is confronting a substantially unaddressed value gap. We are convinced that the key to this treasure trove of profits is the ability to bring a prime solution to your customers.

Is Client Loyalty an Oxymoron?
by Michael W. McLaughlin
Why is client loyalty elusive for so many? It doesn't have to be. Any professional service provider can transform client indifference into loyalty by putting five strategies into action.

What the CEO Can Do To Put Sales and Marketing on the Same Revenue Page
by Laura Patterson
By starting the buying pipeline as far back as the target, rather than later with a lead, the company can determine which programs are most effective in reaching the quality and quantity of targets necessary to achieve the ultimate sales goal.

Applying the Concepts of Continuous Improvement to Sales Leadership
by Jeff Thull
Many company executives look at the selling function as somewhat of a mystery, a black box. Because of this, the sales function is one of the last areas considered as a candidate for process analysis and performance improvement.

Are You Getting the Most Bang From Your Sponsorship Buck?
by Rob Murphy
By thinking out of the box and looking at sponsorships from a marketing and experience perspective, companies can forge strong and lasting relationships with their customers, thereby leveraging the true value of these events to drive their bottom lines.

The Best Kept Secret of the Selling World
by Jeff Thull
Developing a mutual understanding as to the cost of a critical issue or problem is a mark of a true professional salesperson. It's the best way to prevent stalls and handle price objections before they ever come up.

Own Your Niche by Building a Niche Community
by Steven Van Yoder
Slightly Famous entrepreneurs are learning that in today's world, given that most of us have an unmet need for community, one of the greatest services you can offer your clients and prospects is simply to get them together.

If You Don't Measure It, You Can't Manage It: The Best Marketing Metrics For Managing Marketing Performance
by Laura Patterson
Businesses need to know which success factors require measuring and understand the difference between measurements - the raw outcomes of quantifying; metrics - ideal standards for measurement; and benchmarks - the standards by which all others are measured.

Five Simple Clues for How to Recognize a Great Salesperson
by Jeff Thull
A truly good sales professional is worth his or her weight in gold. He will function as a consultant for the customer, a strategic partner, and even an advocate. He will give the customer the competitive advantage.

The Power of Buzz
by Susan Friedmann
How did Hotmail gain over 12 million subscribers in 18 months? How did the very low budget movie “The Blair Witch Project” become such an incredibly successful phenomenon? The answer lies in the power of “buzz.”

Send Me in Coach!
by Don McNamara
The sales manager can assist the sales person on two levels. Getting the "what to do" formulated (the process) and then guiding the sales person through the steps of the "how to do it" (content) with finesse.

The Advertising Blur
by Bray J. Brockbank
Isn't it incredible the amount of advertising that takes place daily? What is most staggering is the amount of daily advertising that is literally wasted away and is plainly lost in every day noise and motion.

Driving Forces of Commoditization
by Jeff Thull
We need to take a hard look at the three driving forces of commoditization…advances in technology, lack of connecting unique value to customer's business drivers and pressure on buyers to make quality buying decisions.

Making a Hit with Your Marketing Campaign
by Susan Friedmann
Considered a vital link in a show's promotional plan, direct marketing is vital only if it's done right. Here are the golden rules for creating that vital, highly successful direct marketing campaign.

Welcome to Sales Management
by Mark White
There are few positions in any company more critical than sales managers. So much rides on the shoulders of these warriors. But we frequently fail to adequately prepare our sales managers to take the reins of our sales teams.

Is My Company Experiencing a Sales Breakdown?
by Dave Stein
Here are a number of the key components of an effective sales operations infrastructure. If your company is not tuned up and ready for action, you'll be left exposed, under-supported or left to waste your precious time on unproductive activities.

Interested Prospects Seldom Buy
by Jacques Werth
"Interested" is one of the most common words that salespeople use in their prospecting and selling activities. If you can get your salespeople to eliminate that word from their sales vocabulary, your company's volume of closed sales will rapidly increase.

Can Your Marketing Effort be More Conscious?
by Jamie S. Walters
Conscious enterprise originates inside - within the entrepreneur and her vision for the enterprise (and lifestyle) - and radiates with deliberateness outward. The same is the case with conscious-marketing.

Sponsorship: A Key to Powerful Marketing
by Susan A. Friedmann, CSP
Sponsorship is the fastest growing form of marketing. You can find unlimited opportunities to broaden your competitive advantage by increasing your credibility, image and prestige in sponsoring events attracting your target market.

Developing Sales Professionals in Today's Complex Selling Environment
by Jeff Thull
How do you begin to develop and motivate your sales force to operate in this challenging environment when you know you have unique and valuable solutions that are not reaching or connecting to the right people, in the right place and at the right time?

One Size Does Not Fit All: "Cultural DNA" Indicators for Marketing Success
by Suzanne Lowe
IT service firms must wake up to the reality that they can not apply one-size-fits-all client attraction and retention methods. Leaders must look to the powerful differentiation that lies within their walls - their cultural DNA, aligned around a set of instinctively preferred, personality-oriented processes.

Set the Ground Rules
by Don McNamara
Either set the ground rules of the sale or get them changed to yours. Otherwise you are playing in a game where the vendor who sets the ground rules has homefield advantage.

Is Part of Your Sales Force on Life Support?
by Jeff Thull
Selling has become so complex; its very nature has changed. A systematic approach provides a navigable path from the first step of identifying potential customers, through multiple critical decisions, the sale itself, and into expanding and retaining profitable customer relationships.

Beauty is Only Skin Deep: Does Your Firm Truly Embrace Differentiation?
by Suzanne Lowe
When it comes to differentiation, the more complex and operationally deep the differentiation strategy is, the more competitively potent it is. The "easier" and more operationally shallow methods reap the least rewards.

The CEO's Role in Large-scale Sales
by Kevin Kearns
As you decide whether to invest in pursuing the opportunity, consider which stage of the buying cycle the customer is in and how that will affect your ability to influence their decision.

Sales and Marketing Strategies for Era 3 - How to Leverage Value to Win and Keep Profitable Customers
by Jeff Thull
Is your salesforce stuck in the wrong era? If they find themselves forced to compete on price to sell value-added products or services - or even if they're trying to sell solutions to problems that customers know they have - the answer is probably yes.

Mastering the Professional Service Firm Marketplace
by Suzanne Lowe
Professional service firms can move beyond their understandable marketplace nearsightedness. They can enact more deeply strategic initiatives to influence their business arena and their own competitive trajectory.

Has Marketing Changed?
by Idris Mootee
The essence of a market lies in bringing together products and customers. Market strategy is thus the relationship of a firm's product, service and price behavior to its customer environment.

The Science and Art of "Go for the No" Selling
by Jeff Thull
Real professionals recognize that a no - after a quality diagnosis, that is - wins the potential customer's respect, leaves the door wide open for future business and frees you up to pursue a better match.

Romancing the Clone
by Don McNamara
I was extremely fortunate to have as my first sales manager a superb teacher, mentor and coach. I owe much to him, as his cordial, problem solving style commanded his clients' and his sales teams' respect.

Strategic Sales Alliances: Delights, Distractions or Disasters: Nine Ways to Tell
by Andy Birol
No matter what the economic conditions, sales alliances appear to cost little and offer much. But do they really help or just hurt your business? Here are nine ways to assure they work for your company.

Marketing Mistakes You'd be Smart to Avoid
by Susan Dunn
Resting on your laurels, hype, not having a reliable feedback system, not trusting your marketing person, being timid, not being curious, following the rules, and more!

How CEOs are Closing the Gaps Between Value Creation and Value Delivery
by Jeff Thull
The high stakes business-to-business sector is confronting a substantially unaddressed value gap. Sellers are creating complex, value-laden solutions, but their customers are unable to achieve the promise of those solutions. There is a huge and attractive opportunity in this value gap.

Service With a Smile
by John Boe
Customers describe quality customer service in terms of attention to detail and responsiveness. Customer satisfaction surveys consistently point to the fact that the little things make a big difference.

Cause-Related Marketing
by Steven Van Yoder
Get Slightly Famous! Embracing a cause makes good business sense. Other things being equal, many consumers would rather do business with a company that stands for something beyond profits.

Use Your Senses
by Don McNamara
Old style stale selling ways are fortunately being replaced by new, and greatly improved methods that give the buyer credit for intelligent decision-making.

Karate and Marketing
by Dr. Seamus Phan
Master Gogen Yamaguchi, said of the 5 secrets of Goju-Ryu Karate: "Master the basics. Move quickly. Have a calm and sound mind. Be nimble. Be smart."

How Many Ways Can I Market Thee? Let Me Count the Ways
by Susan Dunn
You must love your product or service as a true love loves their beloved. It takes deep knowledge of the attributes, and unflagging enthusiasm. Marketing constantly means saying the same thing over and over, again.

Show and Tell
by John Boe
By developing your listening skills and finding ways to keep your customers engaged during your presentation, you will dramatically increase your sales effectiveness and close more sales!

Cross-Selling Takes Teamwork
by John Boe
Cross-selling is a proactive, ongoing sales process designed to provide your existing customers with a full range of your company’s products and services.

Marketing's New Reality
by Bray J. Brockbank
With today's unsound economic uncertainties, erratic change is one of the few organizational certainties. How can an organization adjust to, and even take advantage of change, rapidly, without disrupting its critical functions?

The Fallacy of the Advent of 360° Marketing
by Martin Bihl
If everybody’s always talking about 360° marketing, how come I almost never see any? So stop talking about it and get to work.

Marketing: How to Get the Most Bang for Your Buck
by Karim A. Jaude
An examination of the myths, reality, planning your marketing approach and refining your marketing message.

What the CEO Can Do to Put Sales and Marketing on the Same Revenue Page
by Laura Patterson
The buying pipeline promotes the entire sales cycle, from target to contact, to suspect, to lead, to qualified lead, to prospect and finally to customer and all the steps and time in between. In an effective pipeline organization, Marketing and Sales collaborate to understand where each opportunity is in the pipeline and who has the primary responsibility to move it forward.

The Truth About Lying
by John Boe
There are some people who can't tell a lie, many who can't tell the truth, and unfortunately, most people can't tell the difference. Can you tell when someone is pulling the wool over your eyes?

The Power of Belief and Expectation
by John Boe
While you may not always get what you want, you will always get what you expect! Surprisingly, the power of belief and expectation work just as effectively on your feelings of self-doubt and limitation as they do on your thoughts of success and achievement.

Seven Ways to Grow Your Business Through Referrals
by Karim A. Jaude
The easiest way to earn business comes from customers, clients, and prospects that already know and trust you. Grow your business with a referral engine that will help you carefully cultivate and nurture your referral sources.

Selling Technology to CEOs
by Diane Seddon
Information technology has moved up the corporate agenda and it is changing the way that companies do business. To sell a solution which crosses inter-departmental boundaries, the only way that you can be sure that you are talking to the true budget holder is to go directly to the CEO.

The Rules Have Changed
by Graham Curme
In his seven point analysis, Curme examines the disconnect between strategy and action; between CEOs and their senior sales staff. He addresses the effects that inaccurate forecasting, the market malaise and under-investment in employees has on the organization and states that companies need to take control of the whole selling process in order to succeed.

The Disconnect Between CEOs & CMOs
by Pamela J. Batalis
Most of the marketing staff in most companies have dodged the accountability bullet for a long, long, time. Fellow marketers, the time has come to step up our game, and embrace the challenges that come with a seat at the grown-ups table.

Six Steps for Building Trust and Rapport
by John Boe
Successful salespeople have a knack for making people feel important. They understand the value of building trust and rapport early on in the selling process.

Build a Solutions Force: Not a Sales Force
by David A. Goldsmith & Lorrie Goldsmith
Do you dream at night of your sales force closing all the deals in your pipeline only to wake up and realize that you still don't have the Ferrari in your driveway and that very few of the leads you get ever turn into cash? Your company's approach to sales might be killing opportunity.

Recruit Your Way to the Top!
by John Boe
While there is no perfect system that can guarantee you will hire the right person every time, there are fundamental guidelines you must follow if you expect to recruit your way to the top!

Does Your Company Need More Marketing? Or Just Better Marketing?
by Mitchell Goozé
Many sales problems can be solved by improved marketing. This article describes some successful approaches to determining when to add "more" marketing to your company.

Book Summary: The Secrets of Word-of-Mouth Marketing - by George Silverman
summarized by Regine Azurin and Yvette Pantilla
Here is one of the first resources on how to harness the often underestimated power of word-of-mouth, and be heard above the media noise.

Sales Citizenship
by Don McNamara
The next time you recruit and interview a potential star performer look for the "manifested" skill of how they deal with mishaps that occur as a function of their everyday role. You see it's in their nature to get things right - it is part of their "aptitudes and abilities."

Sales Training Tips From the Trenches
by John Boe
Award winning sales managers place a high premium on training and purposefully design their training programs to be timely, relevant, realistic, and reoccurring.

Shifting the Sales Compensation Paradigm
by Don McNamara
Compensating sales efforts appropriately is one solution for protecting margins, profit and cash. Solving this issue may take creating a new paradigm for sales representative compensation.

Love the One You're With
by Michael J. Katz
Although hunting has its advantages (results tend to come faster and are generally easier to measure), for my money, farming is a much better way to live - here's why.

Touch-Point Strategy
by Bray J. Brockbank
Customer relationships can be one of a business' most valuable assets. So why are customer relationships often one of the most undervalued, under-managed, and underutilized assets a company has?

How to Retain Top Sales Talent
by Don McNamara
Of constant concern in senior management ranks is the turnover rate of their sales members. If your goal is to stabilize the sales team, improve their performance and retain your top performers, then you will want to read on.

Marketing: A Key to Long Term Success
by Dana Baldwin
Why should I think about marketing, when what I need is sales? Marketing is aimed at building the company image, building the basis for sustainable competitive advantage for the long term.

Why Piloting is Like Hiring a Top Sales Performer
by Don McNamara
Without question the most critical skills in sales management are recruiting, selecting and hiring the best sales representatives. Yet why do so many sales managers never get off the ground when it comes to these vital skills?

Book Summary: EVEolution
by Regine P. Azurin and Yvette Pantilla
For any business to survive today, it needs to understand how to market to women. Your product or service must address their complex, multiple lives as home managers, home-workers, entrepreneurs, caretakers of elderly parents, and professionals. EVEolutionize your business before it's too late!

Marketing Right: Gen Y Wants You!
by Daniel Houck
We've got news for you, Gen Y is screaming to be heard. They want to buy your products and services. All you have to do is …

Stealth Marketing
byTom FitzGerald and Linda Brakeall
Every day, invisibly, they pass behind the lines of sales resistance - and leave no trace. Guerrilla telemarketing.

Top 10 Marketing Tips
by Rick Crandall
The best definition of marketing is anything you do to get or keep a customer.

Translations for Commercials
Anonymous submission
These are the nominees for the Chevy Nova Award.  This is given out in honor of GM's fiasco in trying to market this car in Central and South America.  "No va" means, of course, in Spanish, "it doesn't go".

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